This is the Introduction to The Two Sides of the Coin which argues that both Conservatism and Progressivism were created by the monarchy and that both ideologies lead us on the road to serfdom.
The Left/Right Split—which has come to dominate our political and social lives—was created by a reactionary movement that took place after the American Revolution.
The goal of this article is to show the regressive nature of these partisan ideologies and to express the unwelcome opinion that the answers do not lie with the partisans but the ideals that the partisans have rejected.
To be upfront, I favor the ideals of the US Founders. The founders lived before the age of ideology. As such, the Founders did not create a named ideology. To understand their ideals, we need to examine what they read what they wrote and how they acted.
The US Founders had a liberal arts education steeped in classical logic and Christian ethics. They fought a revolution to liberate the colonies from the crown. They then applied classical logic to the question of liberty and developed a Constitutionally limited government and a relatively free people.
Writers of the eighteenth century associated the term "liberal" with the direction taken by the US Founders.
The English Monarchy was opposed to the US Revolution.
The Monarchy has a substantial influence on language. Factions within the monarchy sought to discredit the term "liberal." The main faction sought to vilify the term "liberal" while a second faction captured the term "liberal" to promote illiberal ideas.
The discourse that took place within the English Parliament destroyed the term "liberal."
I will use the term "classical liberal" to describe the application of classical logic to the question of liberty.
I could easily write a thousand page book on classical liberal ideals and how classical liberal ideals could solve the problems created by modern politics.
Unfortunately, such a book would be misunderstood because so many of the words used in such a work have been destroyed by partisans.
Since partisans currently control the language, I must write a work to expose the intentional destruction of our language.
The argument that the left/right split was created by the monarchy is easy to grasp if one looks at a human hand.
The standard human hand has a thumb set in opposition to four fingers. Human hands create an oppositional force that allow people to manipulate physical objects.
Humans have created a large number of tools that employ the principles of oppositional forces. Everything from scissors, cars and even computers have components that employ the concept of oppositional forces.
We create abstract concepts such as markets which employ oppositional forces. Markets pit buyers against sellers, etc.
People know how to employ oppositional forces instinctively. It is part of human nature.
Watch a two year old! A typical two year old knows how to pit parents against each other for advantage.
The argument that the left/right split came from the monarchy is easy to understand if one imagines oneself as king.
A typical king will have a court. The members of the court are prone to form into factions as they seek the king's favor. The king, in turn, learns to rule by pitting the factions against each other.
Finally, it is easy to prove that "conservatism" and "progressivism" came from the king's court simply by looking at partisan history.
The division between left and right is not difficult to understand. Kings, like all people, have a left hand and a right hand. The king simply lines the partisans seeking change to his left and those seeking to conserve the status quo to the right. The king controls the country by pitting the oppositional forces against each other.
Since the king is ruled by self-interest, the king needs simply assure that both sides of the partisan divide seek political centralization.
Both sides of the left/right split came from advocates of centralized control. Just as the two sides of a coin are made of the same metal, both sides of the modern partisan divide lead the world on the path to serfdom.
Partisanship is not new. The first chapters of this work will look at the structure of feudalism and show how both sides of the partisan divide rose from efforts to restore the feudal order.